This January was a bit of conundrum. Our previous years have followed a basic pattern, a big start because of leftover sales from the holidays, dropping off quickly mid-month and starting a general mid-winter slump. This January didn’t really start off with much, but got a big boost when the Cashier launched, and another around the Special EX. No complaints about this month performance-wise, although the new Cashier made it fair, it didn’t make up for the below-average January, just as I predicted. I fear February, traditionally our weakest month of the year…

Income was down about 10% from December, back around November levels, which is normal. According to my analysis of the income from the new Cashier, we have more spenders and the spending to dueling ratio has improved. Also, when you click on Paypal through the new casher, managed by Playspan, we pay less fees then when you used to just do Paypal direct – thanks to Playspan’s ability to negotiate a good rate. Unfortunately, Ultimate Gamer Card murders us with fees, although since you can buy it in a store with cash, I assume users who pay with UGC wouldn’t be able to spend at all otherwise. Besides, it’s kind of cool that you can by Gran in a store (albeit indirectly).

COSTS:

Royalties to Japan – off the top as always

Server Costs – 10% (not higher, just a higher % because sales were a little lower)

Paying back Setup/Startup costs – 10%

Basic Contractors 12%

New Development (paying for developers beyond the core Apocoplay team or development software) – 38%

Set aside for possible chargebacks – 10%

Taxes, fees, legal/financial expenses – 20%

Basic Contractors cost is down a bit, but will go back up for Feb and then some, as to free up myself and MysteryMan more for the serious stuff. You notice we lowered the % for paying back startup costs, that’s because we want to keep raising New Development. We now have a good team and the software we need, so with myself and MysteryMan freed to direct them, we’re going to need that money to keep them working as many hours as they can. Next month, we will probably drop paying back startup costs to zero to offset some (although probably not all) of the February-ness.